S'pore needs to build up long-term care sector
By S.Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 06 June 2009 1724 hrs

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SINGAPORE: Singaporeans often come across the three Ms in healthcare - Medisave, Medishield and Medifund.

But Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said now it is time to focus on the three Es - Eldersave, Elderfund and Eldershield - so that Singaporeans can finance their long-term healthcare expenses as the population ages.

Speaking at the 60th anniversary celebration of medical social work service held at Changi General Hospital on Saturday, the Health Minister also paid tribute to medical social workers who have played an important role in helping patients cope with medical and financial issues.

Mr Khaw said: "Your job scope has gone far beyond financial counselling and giving alms to the poor. Today, Medical Social Workers (MSW) form an integral and critical part of the medical team, caring and supporting our patients in diverse ways. MSWs conduct psycho-social assessments of patients and their support systems to assess their ability to function within the community.

"You provide counselling and emotional support for patients who experience difficulties coping with their illnesses, or who have relationship problems, or financial hardship. You play a very important role in discharge planning, for example, by placing patients in step-down care facilities.

"You help patients and families gain access to relevant community organisations and resources. You help families cope with loved ones who are terminally ill by focusing on their achievements, rather than their impending departure.

"You help coach families about HOTA and get them to overcome their grief over a sudden death by considering the wonders of giving life to others. You help the dying to face their next journey with peace of mind. You have to do all these in multiple languages and dialects."

Mr Khaw asked these social workers to offer their views on how Singapore can improve on its healthcare financing framework for acute and long-term care so that Singaporeans can continue to enjoy affordable healthcare as the population ages.

He added: "If we build it up gradually and systematically, it will do a lot of good for Singaporeans. Yes, ageing has started but still relatively young compared to many other counties. But precisely while we are still young, now is the time to build it up because if we wait till we are aged, like Japan or Europe, it will be too late."

The Health Minister believes it will take about 15 to 20 years before the three Es, namely Eldershield, Elderfund and Eldersave, are fully ready to help Singaporeans age with a peace of mind.

He said to achieve this, the personnel and the facilities must be fully developed. One area that Singapore has to ramp up on is training more physiotherapists, medical social workers and counsellors.

Mr Khaw continued: "I'm quite glad that the university is also participating by creating training programmes and post graduate courses. So we have some years to build, but we have started doing a few years ago. We have to do it with much more earnestness than what we have been doing in the past."

The Health Ministry is piloting initiatives for university graduates from other disciplines to pursue graduate-entry studies for them to be qualified as medical social workers.

The Community Development Youth and Sports Ministry has developed an accreditation scheme for social workers to enhance their professional status. - CNA/vm